The Colts on Wednesday acquired defensive tackle Colby Wooden from the Green Bay Packers in exchange for linebacker Zaire Franklin.
The 25-year-old Wooden appeared in all 17 games (16 starts) for the Packers in 2025 and totaled 50 tackles, six tackles for a loss and one quarterback hit. He topped Packers defensive lineman with 24 run stops, a Pro Football Focus stat which tracks tackles that resulted in a "failure" for an opposing offense.
Wooden was a 2023 fourth-round pick (No. 116 overall) of the Packers. He played his college ball at Auburn.
The 6-foot-4, 275-pound Wooden also would fit general manager Chris Ballard's stated goal of getting younger and faster on defense. Among defensive tackles drafted in 2023, Wooden's 4.79-second 40-yard dash time was third-fastest, behind only Calijah Kancey (a first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and Adetomiwa Adebawore (a fourth-round pick of the Colts).
With the Colts, Wooden will slot into a defensive tackle rotation headlined by veterans DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart and alongside Adebawore, who was selected six picks before Wooden in the 2023 NFL Draft.
The 29-year-old Franklin was a 2018 seventh-round pick of the Colts (No. 235 overall) who worked his way up from being a core special teamer to a franchise record-holder, Pro Bowler and multi-year team captain. Franklin's 179 tackles in 2023 stand as a Colts record, and he led the NFL in 2024 with 173 tackles, earning him a spot in the Pro Bowl and second-team AP All-Pro honors.
